Resident urges Spokane County to adopt land acknowledgement after tour of Salish School site

A League of Women Voters member urged Spokane County on July 15 to adopt an official land acknowledgement and described touring the new Salish School site. Susie Hokanson, who identified her address north of Spokane City, said she toured every building at the Salish School grounds and praised the location adjacent to a 33-acre city park on the river. She told commissioners she had handouts for them and reported that the League approved a two-year study of tribes and treaties across the state. Hokanson read a proposed land acknowledgement, saying, in part: “We acknowledge that we are on the unceded land of the Spokane people, and that these lands were once the major trading center for the Spokanes as they shared this place with and welcomed other area tribes through their relations, history, trade, and ceremony.” She asked commissioners to contact her for help drafting a county land acknowledgement. Why it matters: adopting a land acknowledgement is a symbolic, formal recognition of Indigenous presence and history on public lands; the speaker tied the request to local cultural and educational projects including the Salish School. No county action was taken at the meeting; the remarks were entered into the public record and the speaker offered to assist county officials in drafting language.